Jon Favreau Talks Cowboys and Aliens and Iron Man 3
Posted 04.29.10 by Ryan
For a while, it looked like Jon Favreau would be the likeliest candidate to direct Marvel's upcoming The Avengers, which will combine the characters from Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The First Avenger: Captain America. Favreau chose to direct Cowboys and Aliens instead and stay on as executive producer on The Avengers. Favreau told SuperheroHype that it was not the comic book nature of the movie that attracted him to the project.
The property isn't what was appealing to me as much as the concept and the script. I read a great script and I loved the idea of mashing up those two genres and juxtaposing a very intense alien movie up against a very sincerely played Western. We draw inspiration tonally from movies like Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] and Alien and Predator for the alien side and for the Western side we're looking at John Ford, [Sergio] Leone, and even a little bit of Butch [Cassidy] and [the] Sundance [Kid].
If Close Encounters is an inspiration for the movie, then it's fortunate that the movie's director, Steven Spielberg, is serving as producer on the movie. Favreau also feels lucky to have the cast he has assembled so far.
Once again, I've been very lucky in exceeding all my expectations in getting Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. We're slowly assembling a cast around this property, and I want to do something mind-blowing and it's a great way to do a Western. I've always dreamed of doing a Western, and this seems like a way that's actually responsible from a marketing standpoint, doing an alien invasion Western seems like something very unique and different in the summer next year [the movie opens July 29, 2011], which is going to be all superhero movies and sequels. Seems like an exciting thing that might actually emerge as something unique and different. It's a fun ride and it's a chance to do something that plays a little bit older and a little bit more fun.
Once Cowboys is finished, will Favreau return for Iron Man 3?
Iron Man 3 is years down the road, and that has to reflect the reality of what's been established not just in Iron Man 1 and 2, but in movie time, between this film and that film, is The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. I haven't had to inherit anybody else's backstory yet—it's just simply what we chose to use or not use from the comic books—so I'm feeling like I'm passing the baton and after all those movies are done, it's time to sit down and discuss if there's something I can bring to it, if it's something we want to do together, but that's way down the road.